January 4, 2007 - Lovers Key

We were blessed with a visit from friends Eric and Martha for the week between Christmas and New Years.  Our fellow volunteers Elmer and Ann were extraordinarily generous to us by letting Eric and Martha stay in their motorhome as they were in SD visiting family for that week.  Can you imagine your neighbors hearing that you've got guests coming to visit offering their house when they don't know your guests at all?  Eric and Martha were thrilled with the news.  Not only a great financial savings for them, but to have their "own place" and sleep in a real live motorhome, right across the road from us.  Is this a great lifestyle or what?

But before we get to the pictures of all the fun we had with Eric & Martha (E&M) a little catch up.

It was a crowded day at the beach!  Well, at least the sandbar was crowded.  You can faintly make out Naples in the background through the mist.  The windy weather kept most people away.  Except Barb (who was shelling) and me.  I was "dirt fishing" or "deep cleaning the beach" as I call my metal detecting.  Barb caught a shot of me digging up something, and it must have been right after I got started, as I'm right near the bikes.

DUCK!!  Well, not really, but Barb sure nailed that incoming gull, didn't she! 

Christmas dinner with Joe & Betty, Raini and Ron.  We're in the shop meeting room, and Joe and Betty must have had the late shift as they're wearing their work shirts.  They were here just for the month of Dec, then off to another state park, and we didn't get to know them very well.  Raini had decided that it just wouldn't be Christmas without cooking up a turkey and all the trimmings, and were we ever happy with that news!  She even shared some of the wonderful leftovers with us.  We sure have neat neighbors.

Then the day after Christmas, E&M arrived from their home in Norfolk, VA, where Eric's an Economics Professor at Old Dominion University, and Martha an accountant.  They've been friends of ours since 1974 when Eric was hired right out of college to be my replacement.  I was working for the Air Force at the time and was being transferred to Seattle from Sacramento.  We really enjoyed getting to know them while the transition was taking place.  Within 4 or 5 months of Barb and me moving to Seattle, Eric was accepted into the doctoral program at the University of Washington.  Since none of us knew anybody in the Seattle area, we ran around together until 1977 when we moved to Anchorage.  We both love the outdoors.  Hiking, sailing, picnicking, wildlife (the outdoor kind), and just poking around.  This visit was the first time since probably 1982 that we had the time to go hiking again.  What fun for us!

The next day we poked around Lovers Key a bit.  That included a walk (or "hike" if you will) around the 2.5 mile Black Island Nature Trail.  Eric and I are both admirers of snakes, and Eric spotted this full grown Black Racer.  Only it wasn't racing!  Usually they're very quick to scamper (can a snake "scamper"?) out of sight, and this was the first time I've ever been able to photograph one.  As you can tell by the clothing, it wasn't a very warm day, so maybe the snake was feeling a bit sluggish.

Yup.  He was sleepy -- caught him yawning!

A White Peacock butterfly and a Yellow Crowned Night Heron scratching an itch.  Good day for wildlife

Ended that day with a short walk on the beach where I spotted this great sand castle.  The young man who built it was a bit shy when I asked for permission to photograph it, so I deferred on asking him to pose with it. The next day we headed for Sanibel Island.  Principal reason was to visit the J.N. "Ding" Darling National Wildlife Refuge.  But, of course, since it's on another island, there must be shells on the beach, right?  So the first stop was the Lighthouse Point park.  See the Christmas bows up there on the lighthouse?

Under the watchful eye of a Turkey Vulture, I got a better shot of those Christmas bows for you.

Sanibel Island is sort of in the shape of a reversed lazy "J" with the leg running east and west, giving it unique beach deposits.  At the time we were here, we told E&M that we'd never seen grass like this on the beach at Lovers Key, and blamed it on the east-west attitude of the beach.  Of course, Nature made a liar out of us cause this week we got some of that same stuff at Lovers Key. The older I get the less I know!!

Much like our daughter-in-law Lynn, Martha seems to always be smiling about something.  Both Barb and Martha managed to cart some shells home.

Since it was about a four-mile walk around the main part of the refuge, we elected to take the car and stop whenever we wanted.....which was often!  Caught this Anhinga (also called a snake bird) drying its feathers.  Both the Anhinga and the Cormorant swim underwater to catch fish, and since they have no oil glands to speak of, they get waterlogged and have to haul out to dry off in the sun/wind.  The quickest way for us to tell if it's an Anhinga or a Cormorant is to check the bill.  An Anhinga will spear the fish (as it's swimming underwater) and come up and flip the fish in the air, catching it and swallowing it all in one motion.  The Cormorant has a hooked bill, and will just grasp its meal until it comes up to flip it head-first down its throat.

AHA!  A good sized 'gator.  One of the "wannasee" critters on E&M's list.  Then a Tri-colored Heron.  These are the guys who chase around stirring up the muck while flapping their wings to catch their dinner.  Sort of like an "A" type personality with no patience like their cousins.

Since Barb's camera was in the repair shop and I'd already been to the top of the observation tower, she took my camera with her and caught me waving.  And then since the Roseate Spoonbill is one of her very favorite birds......   It was fun to learn that these birds are hatched nearly white in color, and get more pink as they age.

Talk about a "bad hair day"!  Wonder why that Little Blue Heron was all fluffed up.  The Snowy Egret was in breeding plumage, so we know why he's all fluffed.  Maybe the Little Blue was feeling threatened by that Ibis?

AHA!  Believe this is an immature yellow-crowned night heron that stalked its prey very patiently, then, like a flash, got the little crab!  And then some white Pelicans.  These are bigger than the brown pelicans Barb's always enjoying while she's shelling, and they don't dive for their dinners like the browns do either.  These guys just swim and scoop.

A skull welcomed us into the Shell Mound.  A place where the Calusa people discarded broken shells for many years, making a nice small hill.  And it wasn't really a skull, but rather a coconut with holes in it that somebody stuck on this branch.

On the trail again for a crocodile (as opposed to alligator) that was reportedly sunning itself, Barb caught these Ibis taking their evening bath.  What a racket!  Splashing and "croaking" like crazy at each other in the process.  We did finally see what we think was the croc everybody was talking about, but it wasn't in a position where we could be sure, and it sure wasn't in a position where we could take a picture.  Nice walk anyway.

Then a lazy day just hanging out at home.  Naturally, I had to fish, and this catfish managed to get all my lines (I was using  four poles) tangled up.  Badly!  E&M were off paddling and missed this fun.

Nearly sunset as the paddlers approach "home", and since our next door neighbors Ron and Maria left the other Ron and me in charge of their fishing pole while they went to close the gates and pick up garbage (a duty shared by all six of us live-in volunteers), we had to make sure there'd be a fish waiting for them.  The fact that it had already been filleted out only added to the fun.......  Can't trust us old coots, you know.

Ended the day with dinner out, celebrating Barb's birthday.  Been a while since we'd done this with these folks, and it was great fun.

The next day it was off to the Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary run by the Audubon Society.  Ever seen a grass snake "on" the grass rather than "in" the grass?  Just before I took a picture of a group of Ibis calmly feeding, something startled them and they all took to the trees.  Very distinctive black wingtips to these otherwise brilliantly white birds with their curved bills.

The results of a controlled burn.  All the little green spots are proof that fire can be a good thing as, at least in this case, the excess litter is burned without hurting the living plants.  Leaf litter, when left uncontrolled in a populous area, can really fuel a fire with disastrous results.  Barb enjoyed the color contrasts here.

This picture of a heron wasn't taken with a long lens.  It was actually that close to us, stalking its next meal.  And then a great example of a Swamp Lily.

Amazingly delicate six-petalled flower deserving of multiple shots.

Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary consists of a 2.5 mile boardwalk looping through the swamp.  Unusual shot of Martha -- sans smile.  But the smile was back quickly as we spotted this 'gator resting.

An Ibis morphing from juvenile to adult and another Anhinga drying itself.  Just prior to shooting this Anhinga, Eric and I had driven ourselves crazy trying to get a decent picture of one that was feeding alongside and under the boardwalk.  It would swim along, stab a fish, stick its head out of the water (making it easy to see why the moniker "snake bird"), give the fish a flip, swallow it, and immediately go below the surface again.  It must have eaten five or six  fish with us running along taking pictures of all kinds of reflections on the water or ripples where it had just surfaced and eaten a fish.  Frustrating.....but loads of fun.

Local critters hauled out taking a break.  Looks like that larger turtle almost became 'gator food at some time in the past.  It was missing its right foreleg and its shell was badly "dented" there besides.  The little turtle must have been afraid to get its feet wet as all four of them were being held up in the air.  And, of course, I had to shoot at least one more 'gator... just 'cause.

These shots of a Painted Bunting are the very first I've ever taken.  We've never ever even seen one in the wild.  One of the volunteers on the boardwalk (there are always several with spotting scopes and binoculars to answer questions) had told us that there was one that would come to the feeder every hour or so.  After lunch, that was where we were going, no questions asked.  Well, I was prepared to ask one.  "How long can I sit here and wait before the three of you go home without me?"  But as we got to the feeder we saw a small crowd of people and they were all excited about seeing this bird.  No wait required.  Did take some patience to find it, and then more patience to get a decent picture.  These six shots are culled from over 30 that I took.  While none of them are "publishable," I'll take what I can get--just seeing them for the first time was exciting by itself..  They are smaller than a Robin, larger than an English Sparrow and simply gorgeous.

Early next morning, they were off to Orlando for the football game.  You can guess which side they were rooting for.  And their team won the nerve-wracking game besides.  What fun we had doing the kinds of things we'd done 32 years earlier.  Is this a great lifestyle or what???

And then back to "normal" for us.  Elmer and I have been building this deck, and we're about done here.  Since he was gone, I talked Barb into helping me this day.  Just some detailing and stairs left.  One of the rangers lives here (there are three residences in the park) and they just bought a fuzz-ball called Talus.  He's a Golden Retriever and already will play "fetch" with me.

Barb is a member of the Bonita Springs Shell Club and brought home some pictures of some flowers they made.  Pretty neat things, clever too.  Barb's creation (her first flowers) in the red vase.  What the club does is give the members a chance to learn how to make things, supplying everything except tools and glue, and then the items are kept with the club.  Annually there's a sale of all the things the members have made during their weekly get-togethers and the money is spent on more supplies as well as some philanthropic causes.  Nice to know why I've got 1,543,658 boxes of little shells stashed here and there all over the place!! :-)

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